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by ian kellen on May 22nd, 2005

ian kellen

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Where does "Polly want a cracker?" come from and what does it mean?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

  • by Scoundral on June 13th, 2005

    Scoundral

    It is a common saying to parrots. It literally means what it says... do you want a cracker? This is often used in training a parrot's unique ability to "speak". It's the common command, much like "sit", "stay", "roll-over", etc are the norms for dog training.

    It was most likely popularised by the 1883 Robert Lewis Stevenson novel, Treasure Island as played out in the following scene (courtesy of pantoscripts.com):

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    CUT-THROAT COLIN: Arrrhh! I ‘ad a pet parrot once!

    SKINT (With a parrot on his shoulder): Oh, really?

    CUT-THROAT COLIN: Arr! it used to lay square eggs!

    SKINT: Amazin’! Did it ever speak?

    CUT-THROAT COLIN: Oh, arrh, - what it usually said were - ‘Ouch!’

    Parrot treats this remark with silent contempt.

    POOP DECK PETE: (To Captain Skint) Does your parrot bite?

    SKINT: Oh, no, my parrot definitely doesn’t bite!

    POOP DECK PETE: Oh, good, (to parrot) Who’s a pretty little Polly then? Polly want a cracker? (reaches out to tickle parrot patronisingly under the chin – the parrot gives him a fierce nip on the fingers)

    POOP DECK PETE: (Sucking damaged fingers and leaping about in pain) I thought you said your parrot didn’t bite!

    SKINT: It doesn’t – but that’s not my parrot

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    While it's likely not the first use of the expression, Treasue Island has popularised many other "pirate" sayings; such as "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" or "sixteen men on a dead man's chesT" (both of which it invented).

    From very early, it was common practice to name parrots (or more specifically, macaws) Polly. This is first attested by the 1611 play Volpone by Ben Johnson, in which he wrote of a parrot named Pol. And because, at the time, parrots were a new thing in the world to anyone but Incans and Mayans, as was the decision on proper names. And so begins the trend of naming parrots Pol, Poll, Polly, or Polly-O.

    Why these names? Ben Johnson was born in Westminster, but claims to be of a Border family (i.e. the border of England and Scotland). And it so happens that Pol is a Scottish variant of Paul, And because Ben is creddited with first naming a parrot Pol, we can thus link the naming of Parrots to "paul" as opposed to "polly" (a pet for of "molly", which is a variation of mary).

    -=UPDATE=-

    1) Poll is British slang for a talkative person. When this came into use is not sure but it could explain why a parrot (who can "talk") was given the name Pol by a British author.

    2) While not the origin, an old nursery rhyme went:

    Little Poll Parrot
    Sat in his garret
    Eating toast and tea;
    A little brown mouse
    Jumped into the house,
    And stole it all away.

    This could have been another source for it's wide spread as a parrot's name.

    3) Parrots come from areas that were first settled by the Spanish. The Spanish word for chicken is pollo. These two may be linked some how- my guess being that Natives adopted the word (thinking it to be simaler to "bird") and used it for parrots- then the europeons re-adopted the term as a pet name?


    Hope this helps.

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  • by ingmar on December 7th, 2008

    ingmar

    The script on pantoscripts.com, from which the extract below (= another answer) is taken, is a *parody* and *not* the original version, which can be found e.g. here:
    http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/120

    The parrot in Treasure Island was called "Captain Flint".

    As far as I know, the phrase became popular through the cartoon "I wanna be a sailor" (1937), which you can watch here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1N7VcZovTE

    I can't guarantee that this was the first use of this particular phrase in the media, but it was the earliest usage I could find.

    The name "Polly" for a parrot is much older though (see the Oxford dictionary), but not in relation to a cracker.

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  • by ron.koster on February 16th, 2012

    ron.koster

    From the journal of Henry David Thoreau, dated February 16, 1859 (which is earlier than every other reference mentioned here)...

    [BEGIN QUOTE] What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own. The hen-hawk shuns the farmer, but it seeks the friendly shelter and support of the pine. It will not consent to walk in the barn-yard, but it loves to soar above the clouds. It has its own way and is beautiful, when we would fain subject it to our will. So any surpassing work of art is strange and wild to the mass of men, as genius itself. No hawk that soars and steals our poultry is wilder than genius, and none is more persecuted or above persecution. It can never be poet laureate, to say “Pretty Poll” and “Polly want a cracker.” [END QUOTE]

    That predates the Stevenson reference by decades, and from the context in which Thoreau presents it, that would clearly indicate that it was already in common, popular usage when he wrote those words in his journal. :)

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  • by ron.koster on February 16th, 2012

    ron.koster

    Share your answer...

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  • by Spiderwoman555 on March 28th, 2011

    Spiderwoman555

    Because bitches be trippin'

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  • by kazvorpal on July 21st, 2011

    kazvorpal

    * Mel Blanc voiced a character on the Jack Benny radio show called Polly the Parrot
    * That show started in 1932
    * Blanc joined the Warner Brothers animation efforts in 1936
    * Blanc and WB made frequent references to Jack Benny running gags, like Bugs Bunny saying "Now cut that out!"

    In 1937, "Polly wanna cracker" is a curiously unexplained phrase in the Warner Brothers short "I Wanna be a Sailor":

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1N7VcZovTE

    So there's a distinct likelyhood that "Polly wanna cracker" in that 1937 short was a joking reference to something Polly the Parrot said on the Jack Benny radio show.

    This seems especially likely when considering the cultural impact of the Jack Benny show, versus the ephemeral impact of the 1937 short.

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  • by Cyndi_J2952 on January 21st, 2011

    Cyndi_J2952

    it is a way we use to find Pauly in the local walmart. We, in a deep voice, state, 'Pauly, Pauly want a cracker?' . It works every time. I can find him walking away!

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